The Heathrow Airport have stated that a duty free discount event run by its commercial partner World Duty Free, which offered different rates to Chinese and non-Chinese customers at the weekend, was said to be "unacceptable".
According to a source, the Chinese travelers were asked to pay a minimum splurge of £1,000 ($1,381) to receive a 20% discount, while other shoppers paid £250 to receive the same offer.
Immediately, the users on China's social media platform Weibo have shared their outrage after the policy was revealed on a blog that was viewed over 10 million times. In addition to that, one person have also posted a picture of a flyer, in Chinese, offering the discount to tourists spending over £1,000.
However, a Heathrow spokesperson said: "We have been made aware of this offer which we find it unacceptable.
"We are currently working with our commercial partner to understand how this happened and ensure it does not happen again."
On the other hand, World Duty Free have posted a review online saying: "We are grateful for the comments shared on social media today regarding our VIP voucher scheme."
"We have investigated this straight away and have identified an issue which we have corrected with immediate effect. The program applies regardless of the destination customers are flying to."
Details of the event first appeared on Saturday when Weibo user @Renjiannaipao posted a claim on his blog that, when working as a salesman at the World Duty Free shop, he witnessed Chinese tourists being treated unfairly.
The post was shared over 75,000 times and other travelers responded with their experiences, some vowing not to shop at Duty Free again.
"I shopped [at World Duty Free] at Terminal 2 and I was told I should spend £450 to be eligible for the voucher," user @Yunxiaoyunyaohaohaodushu commented, while @GakkerrQ said they, too, had a "bad shopping experience" at the airport last week.
He accompanied a Chinese traveler to a counter to enquire about the discount and a cashier explained Chinese passengers should pay £1,000 to qualify, which was confirmed by a store manager, he said.
According to UK tourist authority Visit Britain, the Chinese tourists visiting the UK increased by 33% in 2017, with estimated spending of £667 million.
